Ruth Roman

Ruth Roman
from the trailer for the film Strangers on a Train (1951).
Born	(1922-12-22)December 22, 1922 Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	September 9, 1999(1999-09-09) (aged 76) Laguna Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1943–1989
Spouse(s)	Jack Flaxman (1939–c. 1941) Mortimer Hall (1950–1956) Bud Burton Moss (1956–1960) William Ross Wilson (1976–1999)
Children	Richard Roman Hall (b. 1952)

Ruth Roman (December 22, 1922 – September 9, 1999) was an American actress, principally appearing in dramas. One of her more memorable roles was in the Alfred Hitchcock 1951 thriller Strangers on a Train.

Ruth Roman was born to Lithuanian-Jewish parents, Mary Pauline (née Gold) and Abraham Roman. Her mother was a dancer and her father a barker in a carnival that they owned at Revere, Massachusetts. She had two sisters, Ann and Eve. Her father died when Ruth was eight, and her mother sold the carnival.

As a girl, she attended the William Blackstone School and Girls' High School in Boston. She pursued her desire to become an actress by enrolling in the prestigious Bishop Lee Dramatic School in Boston. She enhanced her skills with work in the New England Repertory Company and the Elizabeth Peabody Players.

Heading to New York City, Roman hoped to find success on Broadway. Instead, she worked as a cigarette girl, a hat check girl and a model to make a living and save money. Four years later, Roman journeyed to Hollywood, where she obtained bit parts in several films before being cast in the title role in the thirteen-episode serial Jungle Queen (1945).

In July 1956, Ruth was just finishing a trip to Europe with her son Richard, who was three years old at the time. At the port of Cannes, they boarded the Italian passenger liner SS Andrea Doria as First Class passengers for their return trip home to the United States. On the night of July 25, the Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish passenger liner .

She was in the Belvedere Lounge when the collision happened and immediately took off her high heels and scrambled back to her cabin barefoot to retrieve her sleeping son. Several hours later she and the other passengers were evacuated from the sinking liner. Richard was lowered first into a waiting lifeboat, and before she could follow, the lifeboat departed. Ruth stepped into the next boat and was eventually rescued along with 750 other survivors from the Andrea Doria by the French passenger liner SS Île de France. Richard was rescued by the Stockholm and was reunited with his mother in New York.